Sports fan. Connoisseur of good music (especially on vinyl). Consumer of the finest craft beers. Environmental activist. History geek. Dudeist Priest. Hunter S. Thompson junkie. And I write a little. Mostly though, I’m a dad. But I am unlike my dad. I am still the breadwinner, but laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, hugging, crying, disciplining and nurturing are also part of my routine. I am a domestic machine…I am, like many dads of my generation, The Domestic Warrior.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Look What You Made Me Do

As published in The County Times (countytimes.somd.com)

By Ronald N. Guy Jr.

Over the years, the musical cameos in this column have
included the likes of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Michael
Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Prince and, most recently, Blues Traveler.This week’s title channels Taylor Swift,
which is, depending on the reader’s perspective, either a new low or high for
your friendly neighborhood sports writer.

To the proud “Swifties” and sworn opponents of bubble
gum pop alike, I did not invite Ms. Swift to the party.She arrived by pure chance and for the same
reason all the other artists did – she happened to have a song that resonated,
in this case her recent hit, “Look What You Made Me Do.”

In a way, we’re all innocent attendees of…this.It wasn’t an anticipated topic for the writer
or, I suspect, the reader.But here we
both are, required guests at a hastily created party.Things move fast these days.Just roll with it.“This” will be worth it.The experience might be good or it might be
bad.But you’ll feel something.Promise.

“This” concerns the latest intersection of sports and
politics.“This” is the NFL and its
on-going, unresolved issue of anthem demonstrations.“This” found its way to these pages, again, because
our provocateur supreme, Donald Trump, dropped the following Twitter bomb late
last week:

“The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well
again - can’t believe it! Isn’t it in contract that players must stand at
attention, hand on heart? The $40,000,000 Commissioner must now make a stand.
First time kneeling, out for game. Second time kneeling, out for season/no pay!”

Oh Trump…look what you made me do.Spotlight redirected.Issue resuscitated.Scab picked.

Is this issue genuinely on this president’s radar?Questionable.Perhaps it was just more of the Twitter deodorant Trump routinely
applies to mask the smell of his latest crises – Russia, broken families and
hush money to mistresses, in this case.Or
it could be just another reason to poke the NFL, a highly successful
organization that Trump was unable to…trump…during his failed USFL endeavor.

Regardless, the president chose to take a still simmering
league issue, shove it onto the national stage and heat it back to a rolling
boil.Thanks, POTUS.

I mean that.See whatever his motivation, NFL anthem demonstrations remain an
important and compelling issue (and among the most popular to ever appear in
this column). Trump’s needling of NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell - who has grossly mishandled the situation – also
resonates.His suggested dictatorial remedy,
though, is misguided (and likely un-executable with a unionized labor force).The situation begs for dialogue,
understanding and a mutual path forward, not a subversive edict.Attempting to command away the uncomfortable
and inconvenient is foolhardy.

More broadly, Trump’s tweet is appealing because it
reminds of the indelible link between sports and politics.The two have not and cannot be
separated.That this fact causes some
displeasure is curious; society has and will continue to advance itself, in
part, through sports.

We are better – meaning more aligned with the idea of
America as expressed in our Declaration and implemented via our Constitution - because
of the likes of Jack Johnson, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Billie Jean King, Rubin
Carter, Pat Tillman, Venus and Serena Williams, Shawn Green, Jessie Owens, Curt
Flood, Brandon Marshall, Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson forced thought,
understanding and change on various political and social issues.We are better, too, for the cautionary tales
of Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Todd Marinovich, Lance Armstrong and the 1919
Chicago White Sox.And we’ll be better,
believe it or not, for Colin Kaepernick’s bold and courageous agitation.

Earlier this year, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham bashed
LeBron James’s thoughts on the current president by saying “…keep the political
commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”#AnonymousSources???Anyway…following the “remain in your lane”
commandment, are Ingraham and those irritated by the convergence of sports and
politics now prepared to demand that POTUS “shut up and lead”?I hope not, for if history is any guide, we
benefit when politics and sports aggressively and consistently collide.